DOMINANT ANGLE
Budapest sees the impasse in Miami as proof that Ukrainian-Russian diplomacy remains stuck on the protocol of the location, rather than on the substance of the discussions.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov described a potential Putin-Zelensky meeting at the G20 in Miami as "impossible" on Saturday in New Delhi, demanding that any meeting take place in Moscow.
- 02
Volodimir Zelensky told Deutsche Welle: "Találkoznunk kell, beszélnünk kell, döntéseket kell hoznunk" (we must meet, we must talk, we must make decisions).
- 03
Sergei Lavrov stated, according to TASS, that Russia is ready to negotiate with Kyiv without stopping its military operations, calling the invitation to Moscow a "huge gesture".
ANALYSIS
Budapest, September 14, 2026. In Budapest, the press sums up the state of Ukrainian-Russian diplomacy in one sentence: everyone says they want to talk, but no one agrees on the location. On Saturday, in New Delhi where he accompanied Vladimir Putin to the BRICS summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov deemed a meeting between the Russian president and Volodymyr Zelensky at the G20 summit in Miami in December "impossible". Moscow, he specified, has not even decided yet whether Putin will attend the summit, and only considers a meeting in Moscow itself.
The announcement is a response to an interview given by Zelensky on the same day to the German channel Deutsche Welle, in which the Ukrainian president said he was ready to meet Putin in Miami: "We must meet, we must talk, we must make decisions," he stated.
Hungarian media outlets 444 and HVG recall that this deadlock over the location is not new. In 2025, Zelensky had proposed a trilateral summit with the United States in Istanbul; Putin had refused to attend, sending only a subordinate delegation. In the fall, Putin had in turn proposed Moscow as the meeting location, an offer that Kyiv had rejected, demanding that the Russian president travel to Kyiv himself. Since then, Kyiv has repeated that security and principle reasons rule out any trip by Zelensky to Moscow.
On the sidelines of the BRICS summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asserted, according to the TASS agency, that Russia was ready to negotiate with Kyiv without suspending its military operations. "Goodwill exists within the Russian government," he assured, adding that the invitation to come to Moscow was in itself "an enormous gesture" from Russia.
Budapest also notes that Kyiv is preparing to resume trilateral discussions with Washington and Moscow in October, after the Geneva session, while Donald Trump deemed his recent phone call with Putin "fantastic" and does not rule out a tripartite summit. For the Hungarian press, this diplomatic ballet illustrates less a step towards peace than a negotiation over symbols, with each side seeking to shift the burden of travel to the other.
